


Gone Cold

by Shinigamibutter



Series: Tattooed Souls [16]
Category: Monsta X (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Character Death, M/M, Mortician Changkyun, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Tattoos
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-09
Updated: 2021-01-09
Packaged: 2021-03-13 05:28:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,196
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28648329
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shinigamibutter/pseuds/Shinigamibutter
Summary: Changkyun finds himself falling for his soulmate, a man that is already gone.
Relationships: Im Changkyun | I.M & Lee Hoseok | Wonho, Im Changkyun | I.M/Lee Hoseok | Wonho
Series: Tattooed Souls [16]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1403356
Comments: 4
Kudos: 29





	Gone Cold

**Author's Note:**

> It has been ages, and I apologize. I've had(read have) writer's block for a yearish now...Still, the words flowed for this and I cried. 
> 
> It is the fic I ran a poll on eons ago on Twitter. WonKyun won. So that is what you got

Changkyun had known this day would come. Well, not 'known' per say but he'd always been aware of the possibility. As he'd felt somewhere in the back of his mind, where he allowed himself to be his most pessimistic, that this outcome was likely. Still, it didn't mean he had truly been ready to face the reality of the thought. A reality he now stared down at in the form of the body on table. Placed before him not even twenty minutes ago to prepare for their funeral. And for the first time while facing death, he couldn't stop himself from spiraling.

For no matter how he felt deep down within his knowing pessimism, all the near misses and half wholes had left him numb. Numb to the, what comes after this moment. Numb to the way he would feel when it wasn't just the echo of the tattoo he'd gotten on his wrist. His mark. To the moment that their marks lined up, numb to the idea that he would ever see the small, but very there inner thigh tattoo that had shown up on his birthday precisely four years ago. The mark of his soulmate. The same mark he saw now.

A mark he had always checked for on those with a tattoo smiling or the same as his own on their wrists. A smiling yet frowning face. Each time he saw it on a 'client' his heart would drop, then race uncomfortably in his chest until he checked their thighs. Looking for and hoping against the tattoo that gave him the soulmate mark. And Changkyun knew that those near misses were what made him numb. As he always rejoiced afterwards thinking his soulmate was alive, that there was a chance yet for them to meet. To learn everything about each other. 

He wasn't numb now. Now that reality had slapped him hard with the body before him, carrying the name Lee Hoseok. To him though it might as well have been John Doe for all he knew about him. And even though Changkyun knew it wasn't his fault for that, it hurt. Hurt in a way he wasn't accustomed to as tears slid down his cheeks and he thanked the gods that he only had to prepare the body for a natural burial. The easiest of the services he offered, also one of the quickest to prepare. And usually he would go through the motions efficiently and professionally this was different. 

Honestly he knew he should have someone else take over, to not cross the line of professionalism. But he couldn't. He needed to be the one to place this man to rest. To see that Lee Hoseok was in the best place to rest peacefully in the afterlife, so that they could meet in their next. Preferably alive this time. So he took his time, learning what he could about the man that was the other half of his soul. Noticing the little things, like how his ears were big but cute, while his face was handsome and cherub-like. Which made him wonder how his soulmate had come to die. Something he told himself he shouldn't dig into.

A self promise he knew he would break the moment he had access to the internet for non-work related purposes. Though he could tell a few things as he cleaned the lax muscles and the small ankles of his soulmate. Such as the fact he had obviously been into body building, or at least bulking up as even in death the tone was there, for now. All of it was tissue that would fade away, but Changkyun wondered if these moments would ever fade from his mind as he worked, slow and methodical. Purposeful. 

Then before he knew it the job was done and he could spend no more time with the body as it was, as it had been. Instead it was now wrapped in a shroud and ready to be placed into the earth under his guidance. As the friends and family had requested they not do it alone, their worries deep about the process but still respecting Hoseok's wishes for this type of burial. A fact that told him Hoseok kept good company. But all together the little pieces still left the mystery of the man his soulmate had been in life. A dark hole Changkyun felt in his heart as he put Hoseok away, now only waiting for the embrace of the earth and not his soulmate.

Changkyun didn't tell anyone what he had discovered as he left work, nor did he plan to as he made his way home. Maybe a touch faster than he normally did. Not that either of these things would change anything. He had always 'known'. And what he wanted now was what he didn't know, the keys to the mystery of who Lee Hoseok was as a person. Who, his soulmate had been not just what he looked like. But how he lived the life he had had. How he had come to lay on the table back at the morgue. Beyond the reason of his death, an immune disease that had claimed his life early. 

The closer Changkyun found himself to home and the internet the more his curiosities grew. And the moment his shoes had hit the floor after he removed them he was yanking open his laptop. Closing the various research tabs he'd had open for light reading and taking to social media instead. And though it felt like a long shot, after all there were probably hundreds if not thousands of Lee Hoseoks, he had to take it. It surprised him that finding his soulmate's Twitter and Instagram took him less than an hour. So much less time than finding him at all.

Though he realized that why they hadn't met was more than obvious from a glance at Hoseok's profile. He had been a body builder. Not a professional one, but small time in the circle of the profession. While on Instagram and Twitter he had hundreds of thousands of followers. Who as Changkyun could see were grieving. As each post held so many wishes that he would rest in peace that it took him longer to find posts about Hoseok's life and personality than it had to find his pages. Which were full of body shots, cute messages, and his cats. 

Soft. It was the only word that came to mind as Changkyun scrolled through the sprawling heartfelt messages Hoseok posted, to his fans and everyone alike. And before he knew it Changkyun was sniffling back tears and feeling for a man that was no longer there. For a man that had gone cold more than hours ago, for a man he was stupidly falling for long after death. And Changkyun frowned to himself, the feeling in his chest hollow and warm, like he was almost whole. Just a little bit shy of truly. And as he went to bed that night in love with his soulmate he couldn't have this life, he dreamt of the next. 

A life he knew would be everything this life hadn't been.

**Author's Note:**

> Please show me some love! It makes me feel so much like bouncing back! I love comments and kudos 🥺 but like don't feel obligated


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